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Museums, Galleries & Visitor Attractions * * * Archive 2006
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Client
Manchester City Galleries

Design Consultancy
The Holmes Wood Consultancy
Alexandra Wood
020 7326 9970
alex@holmes-wood.com
www.holmes-wood.com

The Challenge
Manchester Art Gallery houses a world-renowned collection of art and design and has big ambitions to make art accessible to all. But visitor numbers were declining, from an average of 1,272 per day in 2002/3 to an average of 856 per day in 2005/6. The gallery needed to attract more visitors but it was faced with growing competition from new venues like the Lowry, Urbis and the Imperial War Museum North. It also wanted to increase the range of people coming in beyond the ‘typical middle class visitor’. But budgets were tight and in-house resources were limited.
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Gold winner
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Wander. Wonder.Welcome
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Glasgow Mackintosh Festival

Find Yourself at Woodhorn
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The Brief
Holmes Wood was commissioned to redefine the gallery’s identity, signage and wayfinding, as well as to rethink some of the physical spaces within the building. It needed to develop the right tone of voice to do justice to the collections, while conjuring up a sense of warmth among visitors and potential visitors, many of whom had described the Victorian gallery entrance as ‘daunting’, ‘formal’ and ‘unwelcoming’.

The Design
The central atrium has been made the hub of the gallery, with improved light levels and some areas repainted to ensure they connect with associated spaces. Seating and audio-visual projections have also been introduced into the atrium. A permanent internal wayfinding system has been introduced which avoids being content-specific, so it no longer needs to be updated as exhibitions change. Holmes Wood has run internal design and writing workshops with staff, and produced a set of templates for a range of literature and collateral, a bank of photographs and a core set of gallery words like ‘amuse’, ‘uncover’, ‘discover’ and ‘wonder’.

The Results
The project launched in June 2006 after a design investment of £180,000 (Euro 267,000). Visitor numbers for 2006/07 have risen by 33.9% and Manchester Art Gallery has increased its market share by 30.3%, becoming the leading venue in the area for the first time. Complaints about signage amongst surveyed visitors fell by 70% and spontaneous visits to the gallery rose by 180% following the installation of new external signage. Visitors from C_DE backgrounds increased by more than 77% and corporate patronage rose by £10,000 (Euro14,800) in 2006/07.

Judges Comments
‘Contemporary and excellent,’ said the judges who praised the project for ‘results that stack up.’ The panel were impressed by the massive increase in visitors, and the way design at Manchester Art Gallery is now running completely internally. ‘It became the number one cultural venue, and that’s all based on this design,’ said Liisa Puolakka, Global Head of Brand Identity, Nokia. ‘It’s a very successful project.’

Gold Museums, Galleries and Visitor Attractions

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